It’s Bravo for One Scarsdale Native

Marisa LaScala chats with one of the stars of Bravo’s new fashion-minded TV series, Kell on Earth

Marisa LaScala

Perhaps on Monday you caught the premiere of Bravo’s newest reality show, Kell on Earth, about fashion PR dragon-lady Kelly Cutrone. (You may remember her from her appearances on The Hills and The City.) If so, you may have spotted Cutrone’s long-haired new assistant, the one described as having a “high-end goth style.” That’s Andrew Mukamal, a Scarsdale native, and we caught up with him to find out what it was like to be filmed during his second week on the job.

Were you always interested in being on a reality show, or did that just happen?

I wasn’t looking to be on a reality show. I fell into the job — I wasn’t even looking for a PR job necessarily — and two weeks later they started filming. I think Kelly might have mentioned it to me at some point, but I was never really told the whole story.

What was filming like?

Like I said, they started filming only two weeks after I started working there. I was already anxious about starting a new job and meeting everyone because they’ve all known each other for so long. I was already “the new kid.” The cameras added on to that anxiety. But after a while, you don’t even have time to think about what you’re saying on television, because you’re just trying to do the best job.

Did you get advice from any of the other People’s Revolution reality-show grads, like Whitney or Roxy from The City?

Not really. Kelly obviously has reality-show experience, so she was able to give us some advice. But this is a very different show, and it’s all-inclusive of what goes on around here, so I don’t think Kelly was even prepared for it.

Kelly Cutrone is a very strong personality on television. Is what you see on TV really what you get?

Everything on reality television is sculpted or exaggerated in some respect. You certainly get a caricatured version for the entertainment value of the show. The certain phases and conversations happen, but actual reality isn’t as jam-packed with those scenes and moments as it is on the show.

So are you satisfied with the way you come across on the show?

I never really thought about editing myself when I was on the show. Sometimes, I’d hear the things that I said and just go, “Oh.” I know I said those things, I just wasn’t thinking about how they’d come across later.

You grew up in Scarsdale. Did that inform your sense of fashion at all?

I don’t know if it was Scarsdale, but I came from a really loving family and a loving community where I was accepted and allowed to express myself through fashion. It was a really fortunate experience to have. Even when I was a kid — when I was four years old — my mom would try to lay out clothes for me; she said she’d come back and I’d have torn through all the drawers and picked out the most ridiculous things and refused to wear anything else. It was never a huge problem for her. I got used to having that kind of freedom. Scarsdale was a great place to grow up!

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Marisa LaScala

Elmsford, NY

Associate Editor Marisa LaScala joined Westchester magazine in 2003, and ever since she's blown every paycheck at the Greenburgh Multiplex. She also staunchly defends Richard Kelly, doesn't mind spoiling the endings of trashy movies you're curious about but don't want to pay to see, wishes the Hold Steady would come back and rock out Westchester, misses Arrested Development more than anyone can imagine, and still watches cartoons and Saturday Night Live. You can find more of her cultural criticism atwww.popmatters.com, where she is a staff writer.